I purchased a building in the city back in 2006 with the intent of opening a small carryout restaurant. The owner at that time was a nationwide retail food chain with close to 500 stores in the U.S. and the building that I purchased was the first of those 500.
The owner had planned on demolishing the building even though it was a still rock solid facility, they told me that they did not want to see the building trashed so they thought it better to just tear it down which I guess I can understand.
With a little smooth talking [[and cash) I convinced them to sell me the building and we closed 30 days later. I basically cleaned it out and sat on it for a year until I could put my plan together for the restaurant. Since it was going to be torn down all of the utilities had been disconnected and the building was abated for any dangerous contaminants. That was actually a good thing for me, I get to start with a clean building!
I went ahead and had a new electrical service installed, no problem. I had a new gas service installed from the the street into the building, no problem. Here is were the problem starts...
I call the water department and I ask what is it that I need to do to get the water service restored. They refer me to their demo department since demo permits had been applied for by the past owner. After I proved to them that I am the new owner of the building they told me that since the building was slated for demo that I have to run a new water line from the main [[which is across the street) to my building because the old line is lead. I say okay and I start getting estimates...
Every contractor that I've called has told me that they have NEVER heard of the building owner being responsible for the water line from the building all the way to the main. they ALL said that I am responsible for is from my stop box [[which is on my side of the street) to my building and the city is responsible for everything else. The last guy out, who is a major underground mechanical contractor, says he has NEVER heard of the city requiring and property owner to pay for the connection to the main. All quotes so far has been over $6,000.00!!!! I call the water department for a better explanation and all i get is "If you want water there that's what you're going to have to do period"
Keep in mind that the building wasn't being torn down because it was abandoned, dangerous and condemned, that I could almost understand...
I am so frustrated that I am thinking about calling it quits...
